Key benchmark indices continued to languish in red in the mid-morning trade amid global sell-off of equities. At 11:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 996.95 points or 2.87% at 33,760.21. The Nifty 50 index slumped 308.95 points or 2.9% at 10,357.60. The Sensex was trading below the 34,000 level after nose-diving below that level at the opening trade. All the shares in the 30-share Sensex pack were in red. All the 19 sectoral indices on BSE languished in red.
Key indices opened sharply lower on weak global cues and languished in negative terrain so far. Global equities tumbled as interest rates in US headed higher amid concerns of returning inflation. Trading of US index futures indicated that the Dow index could slide about 400 points at the opening bell today, 6 February 2018.
Among secondary indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index tumbled 3.3%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 3.88%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
Overseas, Asian stocks tanked following a sharp sell-off on Wall Street. US stocks tumbled yesterday, 5 February 2018 as interest rates headed higher amid concerns of returning inflation.
Closer home, the broad market depicted weakness. There were more than 12 losers against every gainer on BSE. 2,282 shares declined and 188 shares advanced. A total of 89 shares were unchanged.
Cement stocks slided. Grasim Industries (down 4.72%), ACC (down 3.83%), Ambuja Cements (down 3.65%), Shree Cement (down 3.29%) and UltraTech Cement (down 2.87%) declined.
Telecom and telecom related infrastructure stocks tumbled. Reliance Communications (down 6.9%), Idea Cellular (down 6.32%), Bharti Airtel (down 1.75%) and Bharti Infratel (down 1.19%) fell.
On the macro front, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will meet today, 6 February and tomorrow, 7 February 2018 for the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2017-18. The resolution of the MPC will be announced tomorrow, 7 February 2018. The central bank is likely to keep its policy rate on hold, but could toughen its warnings against inflation. The MPC is expected to tilt towards a hawkish tone from its neutral tone following higher fiscal targets, oil price increases and higher minimum support prices (MSP) for crops.
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